437: Undertone (2026)

This week we're tuning into Undertone (2026). We weigh the power of its sound design, debate whether its slow burn fully pays off, and unpack how deeply its caregiver angle hits. This episode contains spoilers, beginning at 32:47.

---

Mentioned in the Episode

Watch the Movie

Undertone (2026)

Main Episode

'Undertone' Filmmaker Ian Tuason Predicted His Feature Debut's Mid-Seven-Figure Deal with A24

White Noise (2005)

256: Skinamarink (2022)

320: Paranormal Activity (2007)

086: A Quiet Place (2018)

182: Hush (2016)

405: Weapons (2025)

---

Support the Show

We've launched our Patreon to have a place for listener support to help keep our show going. We are accepting support in the form of small monthly donations from our audience. The proceeds we gain from Patreon are put towards ongoing website fees, funding for new content, and equipment upgrades. In return, our patrons enjoy bonus content, early access, live streams, and exclusive channels in our Discord server.

Support the Show on Patreon

We're building a community where our listeners and horror fans as a whole can connect and share the ideas, movies, games, experiences, and stories they are most passionate about. Our community is completely free and powered by Discord, which you can access from both a web browser and mobile app. We're looking forward to your arrival!

Join our Discord Server

---

Contact Us

You can connect with us by creepin' on us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, @HackorSlash. You can also share your opinions with us by leaving us an audio message on our website, hackorslash.live.

---

Special Thanks

We want to give a special thanks to these patrons for continuing to make this show possible

---

Music Credits

"Hack or Slash" by Daniel Stapleton

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Not even a.5 in that one.

SPEAKER_02 0:06

Johnson, I'm rounding down on your fetus, people. Six years ago, Ian Twatson moved back into his childhood home to care for his parents after they were diagnosed with terminal illnesses. In that space, surrounded by memory, grief, and long stretches of quiet, he started writing a story built around voices and recordings. While began as a scripted narrative podcast, slowly expanded into a feature screenplay, one that leaned more on sound than sight, with directions not for where the camera should go, but from where a voice should come. That story was brought to life on a $500,000 budget shot in just three weeks inside that same home with only two characters ever appearing on screen. And that story follows a podcast host who begins receiving a series of recordings that fold her deeper into something she can't fully explain, and ultimately blurs the line between her work and her reality. This week we're talking about Undertone. Greetings and salutations and welcome to Hacker Slash. If you're joining us again, welcome back. If this is your first time listening, welcome to the party. We are a horror movie review podcast dedicated to telling you whether a movie is a hack, a total joke, a waste of time, or a slash. Totally killer, pun intended. We believe horror is for everyone, and as such, we're rating these movies with a perspective we've gained from our varying walks of life and the flavors of fear we fancy most. My name is Chris, I'm your friendly neighborhood slasher enthusiast, and this week I'm joined by the classic horror connoisseur Sean.

SPEAKER_00 1:48

Let's wait until we start recording. I want to get your authentic reaction to this.

SPEAKER_02 1:53

And the paranormal paramour, Binx. Is everyone else asleep?

SPEAKER_00 1:58

You're tuning into Undertone, but if you support the show, you'll be sure to stick around for our B-sides at the end of this episode, where we digest some creepy pasta.

SPEAKER_02 2:06

Well, I can't wait to digest that creepy pasta, but let's start digesting this film. What were you both expecting going into this?

SPEAKER_01 2:13

Oh boy. I expected this to be really terrifying, to be honest. Very unsettling, very uncomfortable, obviously a little too real considering what we do. Just overall, auditory nightmare was what I was hoping to use to describe this film because it felt like I would be able to relate to it a little bit too much just off of the podcast premise. I was certainly not expecting the rest of the film and what it was really going to start to unravel. But we already discussed some pretty creepy things, you know, discussing a lot of these movies and the topics at hand. We record at night. So I was a little nervous going into this.

SPEAKER_00 2:52

Yeah, I think that's fair. I didn't look a whole lot into the movie. I didn't know the ins and outs of the movie. I knew it was billed as like the scariest movie you'll ever hear, and that it involves a podcast of some kind. So it it definitely seemed like it was gonna be interesting, especially given, you know, we do a podcast, like you said. So it it definitely intrigued me, but I was also feeling like maybe we're just gonna get some kind of like white noise, some kind of new white noise or something like that. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 3:23

All fair uh expectations to have, you know, I think white noise would have been such a great title for this movie if it wasn't already such a shitty movie from the early 2000s, but I won't beat up on it too bad. I was a little apprehensive going into this one only because I heard so much hype about it. And it wasn't to the point where it was overhyped for sure, but I felt in my heart, do I dare to dream of a good podcasting horror movie? Or are these podcasters going to be obnoxious like you typically see in movies? So I was a little skeptical going into it, but I heard such incredible things about the sound design in this movie, the soundscape of the film. So I went in expecting, okay, at the very least, this should be an entertaining time, even if I'm not someone who gets particularly scared by it. But let me tell you, I was not prepared for the things that this movie would dare to make you feel. And I want to set the stage here. I started this podcast in 2017. In 2019, I moved home. In October 2019, I moved home. And partially for from several different reasons, but one, spent more time with my mom in my childhood home. Also, my grandmother was nearing the end of her life, and there was a lot of moments in this movie that harkened back to that. But I went from being independent, alone, starting this whole podcast, to then shifting very quickly into 100% surrounded by family and the responsibilities of family. And this movie struck that nerve real bad.

SPEAKER_00 5:10

Dang. I didn't get all of those feelings because I don't think I could relate in the same exact way, but I can definitely see where that would like you could tap into that if you had experiences like that that were similar. I think for me, this movie, I think it started off really interesting. I think after a while, I started to actually just feel like I was waiting for something, literally anything to happen. That's how I that's how I started going into the movie. I it captivated me in some moments, and then in some moments I was like, what's going on here? And I think that nothing really does happen for a lot of the fucking movie. Like you do have a lot of things that are it's trying, you can tell it's trying to evoke some feelings, it's trying to tap into some things for sure. I think that you can definitely relate to some reactions, and I recognize that as I was watching the film, but again, there's a lot of moments that outweigh those moments by just kind of being boring.

SPEAKER_02 6:14

I would really love to just point out what is gonna be, I think, the thesis of this episode. One man's skinemarink is another man's undertone, and that's precisely what we're working with here. I personally think Undertone brings a lot to the table that skinemarink can only dare to do. But but I expected this much from you, Sean.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

Well, you got it. No, I know that our listeners can't see me vehemently nodding my head, but by God, I am agreeing because I knew this was gonna be the case. I knew it. As you were talking, Sean, I'm laughing to myself, like you're pretty much saying the same things that I did when we did the skin rink episode, so it's kind of funny.

SPEAKER_02 6:59

This is absolutely a musical takes podcast. This is actually no, fuck that. This is a freaky Friday podcast. This is just we all switch hats, and we can basically take the skink script, like the transcript from that episode, and then change out who says what, and you got the same review, I think.

SPEAKER_00 7:18

Yeah, I think the interesting thing is that it really just depends on, you know, every movie is different for everybody, and I think it just depends on what taps into what you're feeling and how you can relate to it, and that's just kind of the difference, I think, between the two movies. I think that this one definitely gives you something to grasp onto for sure, which is much different than skinamarink. Skinnamarink gives you pretty much nothing, you just really have to play with your entire imagination the whole time, but the it just the I don't know, it was there is something that just tapped into childhood fears that was different for me, where I don't have the same, I don't have the same relation to the setup for this movie.

SPEAKER_02 8:02

You know what? It really is truly Skimmering is Sean's childhood fears, and this movie is the realization of all my emotional fears as an adult. Like that's we're two different people.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

Well, and I don't even know if it's so much just emotional fears, but it's also just that like there are adult fears as well. I mean, these are things that I think, especially for you and I, Chris, like we lived this, you know what I mean? So I I also, to your point, I also had to move back home, take care of my mom when she had cancer, like live in, well, now I currently am in my childhood home, right? For that exact reason. I think also for me, I I know that I'm the one that's more susceptible to fear of the group. It was a matter of like every day I think about when I put on my headphones, just like to do things around the house, or even at nights that we record, I put on my headphones. If you can see video, got my back to the door. I have the rest of my house. I live by myself. Sometimes I'm honestly thinking, is there something going on? Things that we talk about, noises that I hear, is it someone like in one of your guys' house, or is it something that I'm actually hearing in my own home? I'm not too sure. And a lot of that kind of creeps me out. So when I saw this movie, I was thinking, holy shit, I am scared. I left that theater on my first watch with goosebumps. I gave myself a massive headache from how tense I was feeling. I was holding my breath at times, especially near the end. It just really brought a couple of fears that I've had, both on like the relatable, like the motherhood side, right? And the things that I've been through, but also just the generic fears of you know not being able to hear anything or not trusting if there's a creak in the kitchen that I'm like, did that happen or did it not? All of this was brought to light and made three times worse in this film. And it was like watching pure evil unravel for sure.

SPEAKER_02 10:03

And I think it's because there's something so intimate about sound. And there's this really, I mean, is there it's actually a truth about just media production in general? You can get away with poor video, you cannot get away with poor audio. And that's usually the podcasting sin as you start out and you're like evolving and you upgrade your microphones and your technique and you get better at things, etc. But if you take an incredible looking film and put trash audio behind it, which is actually kind of it, like for me, what what happened with Skinema Rink, it was just a bunch of white noise with very little that was actually discernible. So I got nothing from that movie. Whereas this was crafted with the intimacy of sound. And I think that's where this movie strikes a nerve for me. Not deeply unsettling, but uh certainly visceral in its emotional pull because uh you have this experience of being pulled into the intimacy of just hearing these uh voices in your ears. And for you listening right now, thank you so much. You have uh given us hours of your time to occupy this space between your ears. That's time you're not gonna get back in your life. Thank you for sharing it with us. But in this movie, you are pulled into the sounds of this main character's home, her world, her existence, her phone calls. I can't wait to watch this with headphones. But you also get stuck in her head and you get stuck in your head too.

SPEAKER_00 11:45

Headphones would be wild for sure. I think it's no surprise that the sound in this movie is literally the star of the movie. They advertised it that way. I think they definitely did a good job with the audio. Everything from the children's songs that you hear, the backwards audio, everything in between. But I think what really surprised me was, and hear me out, how little this movie actually understood podcasts. Because we, and we're gonna get into it later on in this episode, but damn, some of the shit really didn't make sense, especially the timeline of how they were recording episodes and putting them out every Friday. But I digress. I mean, honestly, it wasn't even the logistics of the podcast for me in this film, it was how the podcast angle felt really cool, and then it just didn't take off for me.

SPEAKER_02 12:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:35

Wait. It was a little too real when they said episodes every Friday. And then when they hit us with the timeline, I instantly knew that all three of us would bring this up because I'm like, there's just no way. There's just no way. Recording at 2:30 in the morning, get out of here, girly. Get out of here.

SPEAKER_00 12:54

Every two days, but still getting it out every week? Come on.

SPEAKER_01 12:58

What are we doing wrong? I need to figure it out. Well, here's the thing we have other jobs, that part commitments.

SPEAKER_02 13:06

We have priorities. I mean, they also were dealing with a time zone thing because he was across the pond. But the other part, and it drove me absolutely bananas. We'll talk about it more in the spoilers. I'm not gonna like bore you here. But the logistics of podcasting were both deeply accurate and deeply inaccurate, but also not so much. I mean, I think this is a very structured gig that we have going on here, but there really are some people out here treating this shit like the wild, wild west. But you know what? To each their own, good on you. Go create things.

SPEAKER_01 13:41

They're doing what they need to and just making it work and somehow recording from an iPhone call. That's fine. They're making it happen. Personally, I found that I could look past that a little bit because what surprised me, going back to a little bit of that sound design and how you spoke about the intimacy of it, it was how something so intimate, like ASMR, I guess to an extent, right? And and just the beautiful sound design, their voices, how it was captured, listening in. It felt violated. It felt like those things were violated. I've I felt like I was listening to what was going to be something more comfortable, again, a safe space, listening to podcasts, being a part of a podcast, that experience being shaken. And I found that to be not only surprising on how effective it was, but also that it was enough to not need the typical jump scare, to not need the, you know, overt jump cuts. And and instead, they were lingering shots of religious figures and items that began to feel terrifying. And there were slow pans to things that I wasn't too sure of what I was looking at. I couldn't trust myself. I found that to be surprising and therefore extremely terrifying. I found that to be the biggest case for me.

SPEAKER_02 15:04

See, here's where I'm with you and I'm also not with you at the same time because there is a lot about the house in this movie that struck a nerve with me. The religious iconography and the Catholicism subplot. I'm like, eh, it was lost on me. It just like wasn't a thing. But I see how it would be impactful for you for sure. But I want to go back to where Sean is talking about like the pacing and also just like waiting for things to happen. The pacing in this film is imperfect for sure. If you don't have the emotional hook, if this thing doesn't have its nails in you from a relatability perspective, it's not something that's going to really pay off. But I appreciate that it doesn't lean too far into classic jump scares and what you get in terms of what can be in maybe not disturbing, but a little tense in this moment, is all done through incredible audio design or sound design and soundscape and cinematography and blocking shots and composition of shots. So there's a lot that I love here, and there's some that I dislike. But what I will say is I still wasn't scared by anything in this movie. I was emotionally scared and having to look in the mirror of okay, this is a feature that I don't really want to acknowledge. But from a straight up horror movie perspective, like if you're not as sensitive to this shit as I am, I don't think there's much in here that was really scary. I don't think this is the scariest movie you're ever gonna hear.

SPEAKER_00 16:43

Yeah, I think it's this movie is definitely going for that elevated horror, that deeply unsettling, that creeping dread kind of feeling. And in some moments, for sure, I think I did feel a little bit about that. Like I think there was some tension that it built through the sound and through the some of the lingering shots, and I think it did evoke some feelings for sure. But I think overall, it's not that it's really that scary of a film. It certainly, like you said, wasn't the scariest thing I've ever heard. And to me, I mean, here's the thing like if we're being honest, the whole sleeping gag, it that wasn't that scary either. I was just I was waiting for this, these moments to happen. Like I was waiting for something to happen. I was waiting for something to creep out of the shadows or something to be lurking around the house or anything, you know, other than a flickering lamp.

SPEAKER_02 17:38

But I will say this for as much as we're left waiting and wanting some things, I still appreciate the different take here. This is paranormal activity for podcasters. I like that. That's I'm into it. This is not found footage, but rather acquired audio. And I like a different angle on this subgenre.

SPEAKER_00 18:02

It's interesting. I think this one to me, this one feels original, I think, in how it tells the story because it has the podcast angle, but I don't think it's very original in what the story actually is. I think the fact that almost all of the fear is it's trying to deliver comes from audio recordings, whispers, distortion, which feels like it stands out in like a modern horror sense, but not seeing most of the characters and only hearing them. It's an interesting choice. It also follows a well-worn, like forbidden recordings unleash this evil whatever setup. And I think it leans on how I don't know, it leans on what feels like now a common theme these days with grief and caregiving and possession and motherhood. It's something that we continuously have seen over the last you know recent years.

SPEAKER_01 18:54

Yeah, I'm definitely with you on that. I think we've seen horror lean into those same themes resentment, atonement, all of those things that I personally find really intriguing. And I think that's why I was so invested in this. I think, on the other hand, also I liked personally keeping things isolated, mysterious, otherwise pretty subtle in some areas, right? Showing the vulnerability of some of these characters without actually introducing them. I thought those pieces were pretty fun. But overall, being able to cover all of that within a $500,000 budget in an hour and a half-ish film, you know, I thought that that's really impressive.

SPEAKER_02 19:36

I did not find its ending to be impressive, though.

SPEAKER_00 19:40

What do you mean? The last 15 minutes of the movie was probably the best part of the movie.

SPEAKER_02 19:46

I recognize that that's where all the excitement was, and I liked where it was going, but I think I have a really bad taste in my mouth about horror movie endings lately because I just wanted more. Maybe that says good things about the movie. Maybe it speaks highly of it that I didn't want it to end, but I feel like things just they escalated, they ratcheted up a bit, and then I wasn't really satisfied with where everything rested at the end of it. Yeah, it just it wasn't my favorite part of the movie. I liked the anticipation, the suspense.

SPEAKER_01 20:24

I mean, fair enough, but holy hell, that ending was a insane ride. I didn't both times that I watched this movie, I was holding my breath. The first time a friend of mine was basically having an anxiety attack, so much so that we had to re-watch the movie because they didn't even they weren't too sure if what they saw was what they saw. I mean, they were freaking out. It was that's where the auditory nightmare really hit its peak, personally.

SPEAKER_02 20:52

Maybe I just don't have good enough hearing for this movie.

SPEAKER_00 20:55

Well, we'll see with the headphone watch. I don't know, but yeah, I don't know. The last few minutes of the movie for sure, probably the best part of the movie because yes, that is where basically all the action is, and it still ends intentionally ambiguous. I think it lets you decide what the answer is, the outcome is, it implies kind of, I guess you could say it implies heavily, but I don't think that there is any one true answer here. It's one of those films. I think that you know the question is does the horror end? It's definitely not giving you any closure.

SPEAKER_02 21:25

But the one true question of this episode is whether or not this movie is actually worth a trip to the theaters, which is a question we have to answer momentarily. But before we do that, Sean, how would you describe the gore score?

SPEAKER_00 21:37

Well, with a movie that revolves almost solely on audio, you're visually not going to get too much gore. And in fact, we really get no visual gore in this one. There are some disturbing things that we hear, and if we imagine what is happening in our heads, I would imagine it could potentially have some decent gore in it, but this. One is ultimately earning a non-existent gore score.

SPEAKER_02 22:03

And what about the animal report? We are all safe here in the undertone. Well, let's go ahead and get into our ratings. Undertone from 2026. A movie about podcasting. Well, it's less about podcasting and more about the friends we made along the way. Was it a hack or a slash?

SPEAKER_01 22:22

I'll go ahead and kick us off. Personally, I think that Undertone is a stunning example of psychological horror done right. Okay. It left means extremely unsettled, physically tense, long after the credits rolled. I'll tell you that. And for me, what makes it exceptional is its refusal to lean on conventional scares, you know, instead it just crafts this like atmosphere that felt insanely suffocating. I felt like there was also a lot of deliberate and haunting visuals that I personally really enjoyed. It really forced you to doubt your own perception of what you were both hearing, but also what you were seeing. And you mentioned it earlier, Chris. The religious symbolism for me really worked. Obviously, we've I've shared before being a Catholic, most certainly being raised by Catholics. I think also there was a lot of like nightmarish sequences. Again, that sonic terror that kept radiating throughout for me. It just was extremely close to home, disturbing. And obviously, being someone that records in isolation, you know, with these headphones on and such. I think it was very easy for me to lean in completely, right? And connect to this. I loved the themes that it tackles. Again, the loss, shame, loneliness, redemption. I think it was really, really interesting to see that in a very stripped-on production. And I think even further than that, this movie also just really had me appreciate indie films and low budget filmmaking. We've seen a few of those in recent times and talked about those films, and it just really inspires me. And I think it's really cool to see a bit more of that distributed for bigger from bigger studios like A24. I never imagined, though, that this movie would leave such an impression. I will say that. I know there was a lot of hype and I was excited for it, but I didn't think that I was going to leave the theater feeling like I need to see this again, and then I need to go see this again with headphones. And then after that, I'm going to try to find a way to see it in Dolby. It really had me excited to go into the theater and experience this film in different ways just to see how far I could go in terms of terrifying myself. Call me a masochist if you want. But this film really hit for me, and I had a really good time watching it. So personally, it's a definite slash.

SPEAKER_00 24:45

Well, listen, Undertone, I think, is the kind of horror movie that sounds like a slam dunk on paper. I think the a podcast-driven narrative, a weaponized sound design, this idea that what you hear can be far more terrifying than what you see. It's a genuinely refreshing angle in a genre that's constantly recycling itself. And to be fair, there are these moments where it works, the audio layering, the whispers, the creeping distortion. I think those moments do tap into some deeply unsettling, to some people, probably almost primal fears. But listen, some people have praised this movie as a sonic nightmare. They've spoken highly of its commitments to the atmosphere over the cheap jump scares. But for me, here's the problem: the atmosphere can't carry an entire movie if nothing else is happening. And I knew what everyone was gonna say. Well, Sean, what about Skin of Marine? Because that was a movie that I really defended and I still defend. But every horror film, like I said before, hits people different. And I think Skinamar Ink was effective for me because it tapped into an early childhood fear that I hadn't felt in probably over 30 years. This movie, however, didn't tap into much of anything for me, but I realize how it could for some for sure. And for long stretches, this movie feels like just a really slow fucking burn, and it leans so hard into minimalism that it forgets to engage. And I think it it's leaving you sitting there waiting and waiting for something, anything, to actually develop. And while some reviews defend this as this meditative or intentionally claustrophobic, whatever, and I definitely felt that claustrophobia at times, but the problem is that it doesn't last, and then it begins to feel maybe a bit dull and repetitive, and maybe even frustratingly uneventful. And the concept in this movie is very strong, but the execution never really escalates in a satisfying way for me. And by the time the film decides to go somewhere, it feels like it's already squandered the goodwill that it built early on. And that's what makes it so disappointing and underwhelming for me. I think there's a great movie buried in there. A tight, terrifying exploration of sound and isolation, but Undertone, I don't think, ever really quite finds it. And instead, it spins its wheels, mistaking restraint for depth and ambiguity for impact. And in the end, Undertone isn't a haunting song in your head, it's just a lot of noise pretending to say something worth hearing. So for me, Undertone was just underwhelming and it was a hack.

SPEAKER_02 27:31

Listen, this is not a clean across the board everything works type of slash. This is a very specific kind of hit on a scale of Binks to Sean. I'm a Chris on this one, which is more favorable than not. This movie lives and dies by exactly one thing, and that's its sound design. Boy, does it do a hell of a job really mastering that? And I think that's what we had to really lock in for this movie. It delivers. This is one of the few horror movies where it felt like I had to like not just listen to passively experience something, but to make effort to discern, and not from a place of in a violent nature, not from a place of skin a rink where I could not make out a damn thing that was going on there. Every sound in this movie matters, every silence matters. It pulls you in whether you're ready for it or not. But it also treats that experience with respect and incredible craft. This movie has incredible craftsmanship to it. And I think where it's gonna lose people, and I'm sure where it lost Sean, and I get it, is in its pacing and its restraint. There's more that could have been done here. But this movie is not interested in giving you constant payoff. It sets things up, it lets it sit, but sometimes it just moves on. And depending on what you want out of a horror movie, that can either feel like it's building tension or like nothing is happening. But for me, in this one, it worked more often than it didn't. And this is one of the films where the experience is the point of it. It's the immersion, it's the discomfort. Not necessarily that I completely felt I I was certainly preyed upon by this movie in a different way, but Binks is uncomfortable, her friend's having a damn anxiety attack watching this movie. It's the feeling of sitting there, also listening to something that you're like, oh, I don't know that I want to be listening to this. And then realizing you can't disconnect from it. It's like looking at an oncoming train wreck that you can't break your way from. I'll say this: this movie hit me at the right time. If this were 2023, I would have been wrecked. I want you to go back to any episode from 2023. That was the year of Binks and I's grief. And I would have been devastated by the caregiving angle, the guilt, the fear of responsibility, but also the guilt or the burden of responsibility. That all felt incredibly grounded, incredibly real, and incredibly performed on screen. So when the horror starts layering on top of that, it doesn't feel separate. It feels like one continuous conversation. It's an extension of the experience of this main character. And that is what pushed it over the edge for me. So yes, Sean, one man's skin marink is another man's undertone. And I I get why this is gonna be divisive. I think it's nowhere near skinemarink, but I understand why some people aren't gonna be super jazzed about it. But for me, it was absolutely a slosh. And with that, Undertone from 2026 has earned one hack and two sloshes. Now you had time to see this in theaters, or if you're listening to this post-it's theatrical release, check the link in our show. This is here where you can find it right now. But hang tight and go into the second half so we can get into these spoilers together. We'll see you in a bit.

SPEAKER_00 31:09

Well, folks, tonight's episode of Hackerslash is actually brought to you by Undertone the Podcast. The in-universe audio experience that proves sometimes the scariest thing is waiting for something to happen. Looking for a show that pulls you in with chilling atmosphere, eerie sound design, and the constant feeling that you're on the verge of uncovering something truly horrifying? Well, good news. Undertone delivers all of that feeling with absolutely no guarantee of follow-through. Each episode is carefully crafted with unsettling audio cues that make you check over your shoulder, long, deliberate pauses that definitely mean something, probably, and a story that keeps asking the question, what was that? without ever feeling obligated to answer it. It's the perfect podcast for anyone who's ever said, I love when tension builds, and then just hangs out there. Upgrade to Undertone Premium and you'll get extended cuts featuring even more ambient noise, deeper ambiguity, and bonus episodes where the plot almost almost kicks in. So if you're ready to immerse yourself in a world where the vibes are immaculate and the payoff is optional, tune in to Undertone the podcast today. Undertone, because resolution is overrated, and the real horror is the anticipation. And hey, if you think you missed something important, don't worry. So did they welcome back, folks.

SPEAKER_02 32:48

You're now entering the spoiler zone for Undertone from 2026, which has earned one hack and two slashes. Now we have a lot to argue about in this movie, undoubtedly, but before we do all that, Sean, let's go through that sleigh-by-slay.

SPEAKER_00 33:03

Well, for a movie with four kills that we really don't see, you would think that the kills aren't worth talking about. But really, these kills were probably some of the more interesting things that are happening in this movie, trying to piece together what happened to Mike and Jessa as the story slowly unfolds over an hour and a half, and the wild sounds of the baby getting killed and or potentially and the mom finally you know finally dying after the entire film had its runtime. So let's get into it. Which of these kills overtuned your undertone?

SPEAKER_01 33:37

I suppose we could say the baby being swung against the furnace. Oh my god. That's terrible.

SPEAKER_02 33:46

It was awful to listen to, absolutely awful to listen to. And that is again where this movie shines because it's not about what you can see, it's about what you can hear and what you can hear painfully clearly. Yeah. A little too clearly.

SPEAKER_00 34:01

It was pretty gnarly for sure. There's a lot going on in that moment, too, but just the sound of that baby getting whacked against the furnace or wall, whatever the hell, was pretty gnarly for sure. I think like just the progression of what led to Mike and Jessa dying, too. It's not even that their death specifically is what you know was great. It was just the progression of because they were so heavily involved in the story of the movie and how the and everything kind of happened to them. It's crazy. So I think that is very interesting for sure.

SPEAKER_01 34:35

Wanna say that the mama kill, I guess, also is a little unsettling, mostly because it's the quick snapshot of us seeing the bag, like the suffocation. It's like a split second moment. If you blink, you miss it, which I appreciate. And just what leads up to that too, it is very creepy to have her walking backwards, hands outstretched, coming from the bathroom, and then at that point you're just hearing the commotion. I also want to ask, are we assuming maybe or not assuming that potentially Evie has also passed in a similar fashion with uh since it was Jessa and Mike that passed as well, or what do we think?

SPEAKER_00 35:20

Well, I think it's like that's the whole am ambiguous part of the ending. Like we it it's implied that potentially that did happen, you know? And if she suffers the same fate as like Mike and Jessa, then yeah, potentially, but it doesn't give you that for that reason. So I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 35:37

I I love that though. But also I don't. I mean, obviously that's fucked. Because then it's a it's a double homicide because she's pregnant. Let us not forget.

SPEAKER_00 35:46

That is yeah, that's true. We should have like a 0.3 in there because it's basically just like what a month or so in, couple months.

SPEAKER_02 35:54

Yeah, true. Yeah, not even a point five in that one. Seanson, I'm rounding down on your fetus, people.

SPEAKER_00 36:03

Yeah. We're gonna be exact. But the mama dying, yeah, for sure. It's significant because we were fucking waiting for something to happen for the whole movie. You know, we're talking about the fucking the death rattle. I want to fucking see the death rattle. I want to see something happen. Have her die, come back to life, whatever the fuck. But I waited the whole movie to see something. Stop giving me the shots of her sleeping and snoring and breathing and whatever.

SPEAKER_01 36:26

But here's the thing. Boy, oh boy, when they said death rattle, I looked at my friends and I said, I don't want to hear that again. I I know that death rattle. And I don't want to hear that death rattle, as it turns out. I'll literally get emotional just thinking about it. Like, I think I that is actually the kill that I was least waiting for. Because if I heard that sound, I was afraid of what it was gonna bring out of me. You know what I mean? And I think it approached it more of like a grudge way, with like the all-black, you just hear it, not actually see it, which I think that maybe helped a little bit, but oh boy, when they said that death rattle, I was like, oh, they really are committing to the full experience of what this is going to look like.

SPEAKER_02 37:11

I don't know that I could have survived hearing that in its entirety. Like, we get it, but that could have been such a visceral moment, and I'm so glad it didn't just make us dwell in that. And man, when I'm thinking about the production of this film, we have so much to say in terms of its audio, in terms of its soundscape. But I want to really just take a moment to acknowledge before we spend so much time on that the set design that this movie was filmed in his childhood home. Yeah, what the fuck very home where he cared for his parents.

SPEAKER_00 37:52

This guy's demented.

SPEAKER_02 37:54

It's honestly such a cathartic exercise, and he but he also talked about like for him, that house became haunted. How painful is that? I cannot imagine being in his shoes. And what a labor of love and a labor of storytelling this house, because of that, feels real in a way that so many horror movies can't really conjure. It's lived in, it's cluttered, it's inconvenient for sure, but you can feel the care for someone else in a space and not just existing in a space. And even within that, the character the house itself has so much character, it has such an identity. The rooms feel familiar, but they continuously change based on where she's going and what she's doing. The energy in the house feels weird. I would honestly take this house up against the Avenyville house, maybe. Shout out to our Monster Madness competition that's currently going on. I really loved it.

SPEAKER_01 38:59

Personally, the cinematography as far as how they captured the house was great. I want to call out one moment in particular. The shot of her on the ledge with the cross next to her. Put that shit in the Louvre, okay? I want that shit framed in my house just to scare me when I go up my own stairs. So good. So freaking good.

SPEAKER_00 39:28

That's yeah, definitely. I mean, I'm glad I mean I honestly I'm glad I thought everyone was really gonna talk about just the audio because there are some really great shots with the lighting and the use of the shadows and the cinematography and the kind of the angles that they the weird camera angles that they give you. And I think when you have those things mixed with the sound design, those are where some of those little moments do shine. Like I do want to highlight like the moments where she is recording the podcast or listening to whatever is happening, and there's moments where she like looks over her shoulder, like thinking like she might be like looking for something behind her, or there's that just that feeling. I don't know if anyone has been in a dark room with headphones and you're listening to something really fucking creepy, and you fucking have that urge to like look behind you. I've had that moment a couple of times, and that and these are the moments in this movie that evoked that feeling. So I was like, oh, okay, I get this.

SPEAKER_02 40:31

Binx, can you take off your headphones for a second and I'll give you a thumbs up when you can put it back on? I need you to know, folks, that when Sean said that, it took everything in my soul to not say tiptoe, but no. No, she can still hear it.

SPEAKER_00 40:47

You should probably could still hear that shit. Come on. You didn't hear it?

SPEAKER_01 40:51

I actually I heard I just heard like your voice get high and then it clicked as to why you specifically would ask me that question. So I just went even higher.

SPEAKER_02 41:02

Yeah, that's exactly what came to my head, Sean. Yeah, when you think about just creepy shit that you hear. But man, even the production of those tapes, so those recordings were actually done with just the two actors passing off an iPhone, and it was on days before they actually filmed the movie.

SPEAKER_00 41:25

That's wild. Yeah, it's like all of those little things, and then just the creative use of the sound design to where like there were moments where we're listening to the what was happening in the podcast episode, and like there was just so much tension being built, and you could tell that that she's just not feeling right, and so she takes the headphones off, and then the audio just like it becomes silent, and then you just hear like the tick-tock of the clock, and then there's moments in reverse of that where like there's just so much shit going on, and then she puts the headphones on, and then it goes, and then all of that goes away. Like they kind of switched back and forth a couple times in the movie. That was pretty well done.

SPEAKER_02 42:06

It reminded me of a quiet place, yeah, for sure. And Hush, oh my gosh, Hush was so great with its sound design.

SPEAKER_01 42:14

One particular scene, a personal favorite, again, going back to that incredible shop, but the overall scene in which it it's shown is the dream sequence when she's putting in her headphones, she's listening to that meditation, right? That's yeah, that sleep meditation, how creepy that it starts to get really like unnerving, describing something almost poetically, right? Like it's unsettling, but using such like beautiful words to describe what's clearly like a baby and just like just really fucked up stuff in the ocean, honestly. But I loved how the lighting that hits her roof, right? It it looks like the ocean waves, but then you start to see these different scenes, her mom screaming. I loved all of that. I thought it was a great mix of both incredible shots, but something that is very, very creepy.

SPEAKER_00 43:11

Yeah, that was one of the scenes that I had highlighted for sure, but also the scene that really also shines is the scene where you know, the first like 3 a.m. weird trip-out sequence where the light starts to flicker in the living room, and we get what appears to be potentially her mom in the dark, and it's just a truly creepy moment, and there appears, and then it just appears to go into like being maybe a nightmare of some kind as she wakes up face down on her computer moments later, and it you also have in that scene that kind of Sam Raimi camera running down the stairs, like the entity is running down the stairs, which is a really cool shot. When that was happening, I was like, Okay, here we go. Here we fucking go. Really well done.

SPEAKER_02 43:57

I enjoy that, but I also need you to know that with that entity. Entity semi-coming down the stairs. All I could think of was the name Abizoo. And all I could think about was Pazuzu. And I kept thinking that Abizoo was the inferior demon name. I just couldn't take it seriously. I don't know. That's just me personally. But I want to highlight such a benign, unscary moment as my favorite scene. And that's where we actually get a lot of the introduction with sound where she's starting her call for the first recording session of the podcast. And she's talking to her co-host. We hear the distinction in her headphones coming on, everything drowning out. We also hear how disruptive the FaceTime audio call can be, because it absolutely can be. I can't tell you how many times I've like been editing the podcast. I have my headphones on, and I forgot that I have calls on nearby devices on, and then all of a sudden I hear this like loud ringing in my ears, and it drives me insane.

SPEAKER_00 45:04

It's yeah, it's so relatable.

SPEAKER_02 45:05

Yeah, it is absolutely a deeply relatable thing. Also, I love that they used FaceTime Audio because it has a significantly higher quality audio sound, and we've actually used that in the podcast before. Now we use different tools, etc., for this one. It's just also really tough to do with multiple people on a call. That's why we partially move away from it. But the relatability of that moment, I I saw her microphone arm, her boom arm, like attached to the kitchen table. And it's crazy work, but it's real, it's relatable. The echo in that space has gotta be frustrating for sure. Thank God we live in 2026 when there's so many tools you can just remove that with one click. But it just sent me back to a moment, and there's a specific quote that she says that I'll get to. It sent me back to moving into my mom's home, and there was a transitionary period where my sister, her husband, and and my nephew were still there, and they were in the process of buying a house, so they were about to get out. But I was settling in, I was in the living room sleeping, but I had a little tiny circular table. And this is how much I love this fucking podcast, and then what a what a sanity thing it is for me. I the first thing I unpacked in that house was my mixer, my laptop, and my microphone so I could keep doing the podcast and not miss an episode because that was my therapy, like that was what was like keeping me together. And I've had I I'll try to find the pictures and maybe I'll post it for this episode. I have a picture where it's like a little rinky dink circular Walmart end table that has like this huge ass professional microphone on it, and I'm like, oh, that's exactly what is happening in this movie because her commitment and throwing herself into this is her distraction, and she says, This is the only thing keeping me sane right now, and that is 100% relatable.

SPEAKER_01 47:04

I almost want to say that that's a direct quote that you have actually said on this pod. I mean, when that was said in the movie, I instantly was like, That's Chris. She's literally said those words before.

SPEAKER_02 47:18

Yeah, it really is. This is such an important outlet to me. That is just like the catharsis of horror of this podcast of our community. This is where you have no idea how healing this whole thing is. But I can absolutely relate to Evie, and that's the first thing where I was like, yeah, no, I fuck with her. I get it. I get it.

SPEAKER_01 47:41

No, I absolutely I'm with you because even from my perspective, this also has been something where, like, when we were going through what we were going through, all three of us have gone through some extreme loss. I mean, this is something that we look forward to, right? We spend time with each other, we're talking about things, we can kind of just like remove ourselves from reality and talk about another reality through these movies and you know, talk to our listeners when we're live, etc. So that piece, I think, was great to write kind of establish at the beginning because it was like, yes, this movie is something that we can relate to. The sentiments also match. The setting, again, maybe a little bit more for some of us than others, sure. But I'm with you 100%. I think just as a character herself, she was someone that I think was very intriguing. I mean, diving into that a little bit, she's flawed, you know, and I think that's the other piece that also felt really real and felt like someone that I can relate to. She right in that same scene, right? She talks about how she kind of wishes that this was all over and how fucked of a statement that is. And that's just brutal honesty that sometimes you can only say to someone that you really trust, because if you say it to anyone else, you sound like the worst piece of shit. And I think maybe we've all been there. I I'll be honest, I certainly have, where it feels agonizing.

SPEAKER_02 49:10

Just when we started this podcast and you asked me how I was doing and how a certain situation was going, and I was like, Well, I've kind of extracted myself from that. I was like, Well, if I said that to literally anybody else on this earth, I would look like the biggest piece of shit. I'm like, oh no, no, Sean Dings get it.

SPEAKER_01 49:26

Absolutely. Absolutely. I think it's just a character that I found really, really intriguing, very honest, very true to the frustrations of the whole situation. There's a particular scene as well where, you know, her piece of shit, garbage boyfriend, classic, classic situationship at best, I'm sure, is pushing her to go to a party, hasn't even shown up to be supportive. Again, we know the type, right? But she's like trying to do something for herself, gives in, goes, tries to go to the party, but her mother has an accident. She's trying to do that. The phone's blowing up. And one thing that I picked up on my second watch that I thought was very interesting was that she uses the words like Jesus and God as like explicitives, not as something that's like praising, right? Like it's just such a frustrating moment to try like to do everything all at once. And you're using these like religious words and these calling out to him in a way that's almost like damning him, right? Versus something that as far as the mother expresses, should be someone that you're praying to and asking for help.

SPEAKER_00 50:40

Yeah. It I think for a movie that centers pretty much primarily just around this one character in Evie, I think like it she does a great job with the character, portraying the emotions that she's portraying. It's keeping you interested in what she is doing, primarily a lot of listening. And so her expressions helped in some of these moments to keep you kind of drawn into the scenes. And so I think for it is a very interesting choice when we think of like what this movie set out to do and purposely only show you the two characters, and really you're only getting something from the one character, and everyone else is just an audio voice, is a very interesting choice to do. And so, with this character, she has to draw you in somehow, and I think she does a good job in bringing you into what she's doing, which is something to be said for sure.

SPEAKER_02 51:36

I also just want to give a little shout out, as much as I love Evie, to Justin, who seems like such a sweetheart of a co-host who's always there, always on time, is down for her nonsense when she's like, I want to keep going. Just kidding, we're gonna do this in 20 minute bunches, probably even less. I bet I have to re-watch it. I didn't watch it two times like Binx did. But I got the energy that Justin does more of the production and the editing than Evie does, and that's why she's so quick to be like, Oh, let's take a break. She has no idea what it's gonna be. Like, do you know? And this is one thing while we don't record over multiple days, your the sound of your voice can change very easily. And one thing I never want to do is have an episode where our voice changes halfway through. Absolutely the fuck not.

SPEAKER_00 52:29

That's true, that's true.

SPEAKER_01 52:31

The overall environment, right? I mean, I could be to tonight, it could be completely quiet. Tomorrow, you've got a weird, like maybe a drowning sound in the background that could be annoying. 100%. But I can assure you that Justin is the producer. Absolutely. You notice it when he brings up that he's got a new intro and outro song for them and everything. I'm like, oh, this guy's, I mean, he's screwed. This girl's just like quitting halfway through, doesn't give a damn. It I granted, they're the ones that pick 2:30 in the morning, so let's talk about it. That's gotta be already brutal enough as it is.

SPEAKER_00 53:07

Yeah, recording that late is terrible. But yeah, I think it's logistically just I get like two different time zones. So which one is gonna sacrifice the time? You know what I mean? But it's just, yeah, it's the it's the intervals of how many times they're recording per week for me to get that shit done, edited, and out by Friday. And let's face it, it's not like they had a clean recording, it's not like they were just doing the thing and just knocking it out. They had a lot of bullshit happening in between.

SPEAKER_02 53:36

They did have a lot of bullshit, but what I will say is that they do speak very well. So there's like large chunks for them to remove, but there's less of like the intensive stuff that they have to edit. But you know what? Nah. Couldn't be me, dog. If we're reading at 2 30 in the morning, we're doing that shit once a week.

SPEAKER_00 53:56

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 53:57

And you better sit your ass down and finish that frickin' episode. Let me tell you what.

SPEAKER_02 54:01

You're gonna figure it out because listen, all these times that we've done Thursday night releases and I'm up until like fucking 6 a.m. editing, not dog. We're committed.

SPEAKER_00 54:11

That's a brutal now.

SPEAKER_01 54:14

Speaking to overall production, right? The clips themselves, I thought that they were really, really cool. I mean, I love how towards the end you realize like we're kind of breaking space and time a little bit, are we now? The Abizoo's really messing with you. Having you think, wait a minute, what happened first? It's almost like the chicken or the egg, right? Because they reference Justin in the recording. You then realize, again, this is the mysterious and the very subtle pieces of information that get thrown in there without fully telling you exactly how Abizoo found his way into this particular house, you know, through the ceramic artist that's handing out statues in her neighborhood. You then find out that Jessa and Mike live in her neighborhood. You then see the ceramic statue that the mom had. I mean, there's like subtle things that if you just miss it, you miss it. Or maybe you're too locked into the visuals and you're not actually hearing what's happening. You're trying to figure out is there a scare that's about to happen from behind her? Who knows? You can get distracted, certainly.

unknown 55:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 55:22

But I thought that the clips were really cool and how they were composed and how they were ordered in a specific way to slowly start to reveal certain information and then hit you with a wait a minute, this has all been instructed and done in a way to completely fuck with her.

SPEAKER_00 55:40

Yeah, the clips were in the order of things were definitely a good part of the film. And it's the interesting thing is that we're watching this slowly unfold, but you know, we've all caught on way before she did that she's experiencing the same exact shit that she's listening to. Like she's literally going through what she's listening to every fucking clip of this podcast.

SPEAKER_02 56:03

Also, let me just say, couldn't be me. I get sent a zip file. I'm gonna listen to all those files. They're not very long.

SPEAKER_00 56:11

Yeah, all at once. Just knock it out and then play that shit backwards.

SPEAKER_01 56:15

At least, at least for Justin, like play real quick just to make sure that things are gonna be alright, that the audio file is even worth exploring.

SPEAKER_02 56:22

That's what I'm saying. Y'all are putting a whole lot on a Friday release episode, and you're just hoping that all of these files will go by just fine.

SPEAKER_01 56:32

Mm-mm. Mm-mm-mm.

SPEAKER_02 56:34

Nah, it couldn't be me. That's how I know neither of them are a fucking Capricorn.

SPEAKER_01 56:38

That's true. That's true. Now, personally, I think that there's a lot of great things to highlight, but the worst part would have to be that I didn't get to experience this in Dolby like I wanted. Now, I want to talk to you, AMC. I love ya. But you were only showing 10:30 p.m. for Dolby for this. You made it real tough on me.

SPEAKER_02 57:00

Yeah, that is my struggle as well, Binx. I want to re-watch this movie with an even better audio experience. What I will say is that there's a lot of rise and fall, and sometimes the falls were not worth the rise that it took to get there. And I I think that's where Sean even mentioned, right? There are moments in this movie where it feels like you're just waiting for something to develop and then it doesn't because it takes you right up to the edge. I personally am okay with it, but I do think it's one of the weaker aspects of the movie.

SPEAKER_00 57:34

Spatial audio is where you want to watch this movie next. I think the uh best part of this movie for sure, for me, definitely the concept, and I don't mean that in a bad way. I just think, you know, obviously we can talk about the sound design and all that, and we've already hyped on it, but the concept of the movie and just taking maybe a familiar trope, if you will, with uh doomed recording of some kind of cursed whatever that gets passed along and coming at it from this podcast angle was a pretty cool concept. Whether it was executed super well, in my opinion, or whoever's opinion, that's up for debate. But the concept was definitely one of the better parts of the film.

SPEAKER_02 58:16

Man, the more I think about this, the more I can't wait to watch this again. Actually, no, I can wait because I'm not gonna see it again in theaters. But later this year, I think in October, when we're in our spooky season and we're doing some bonus content, I want to figure out a way to watch this movie again. Maybe we do something special for it. You know that I'm frickin' down.

SPEAKER_01 58:38

I want to experience this movie as much as I can while it's still in theaters somehow, somehow. I even went to two different theaters to for each of these showings to see if maybe the speakers would be different. So that's how unwell I am personally. I'm really sad about it not being in Dolby. It's already gone. I've checked, I've checked. But if I don't watch this in theaters again, it's definitely going to be with whatever noise canceling headphones I can find. I don't have the whole setup that y'all have, but if y'all want to borrow, let me borrow. Please.

SPEAKER_02 59:14

Hear me out. Bonus content in October. I film you watching the movie on the Voyager Pro with my AirPods. I'll get the AirPods Max, and we'll just see how much you freak the fuck out.

SPEAKER_01 59:29

Let's do it. I'm down. I'm willing to be terrified. I almost watched this movie by myself in Dolby and on a Monday because there was like an early access for it, and I didn't go because I was too scared of how I'd come out. And then when I did watch this movie, I was like, thank God I didn't go by myself. I would have probably needed someone to drive me. It would have been too much.

SPEAKER_00 59:50

Well, yeah, listen, you all have fun with all of that. I don't think I can say the same. I I do acknowledge that watching it in that way will be a very a much more effective way of watching the film, but I don't see myself watching this one again. I just don't I don't feel the desire to. I maybe it'll happen, but no, just not it's not my thing.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:12

Well, may not be your thing, but it's certainly ours. And we need to figure out if it's our listeners' thing. So there you have it, folks. Undertone from 2026 has earned one hack and two slashes. And we've certainly had a conversation here. It's been robust, but it doesn't end here by any means. We still need to hear what you think.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:30

That's right. If you want to find out what our episode sounds like played backwards, consider supporting the show. You won't hear any of that. But by visiting patreon.com slash hackerslash, you can enjoy even more of the show, including bonus content with early access, extended episodes with our B sides, movie nominations, and live shows.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:52

We'll see you next time, folks. And remember, don't be afraid of the dark, be afraid of the silence.